Don't Blame me, I voted for Kodos

I'm one of those people who used to always watch the Simpson's. Having seen each episode dozens of times. Eventually the quality of the show started to wane and it's been a few years since I've seen the show. Despite it's flaws it had some of the best laughs in television.

Kang and Kodos are aliens from the Simpsons who've appeared in every single Treehouse of Horror Halloween episodes.
Here's a great clip from when the two disguised themselves as Bob Dole and Bill Clinton in an attempt to take over the country.

Tentacle Sprites

The Metal Slug video game series are pretty great. Straight up crazy 2D art side-scrolling shootin' action. It's really sad that there are fewer and fewer sprite based videogames, and often the ones that do show up are done in a simple 8-bit style (which are fun but totally different)
Back to Metal Slug though, it has a great art style and just oozes charm and of course packs a good amount of difficulty.